Crescent sells Circle at South End for $74M

Crescent Resources has sold the Circle at South End apartments for $74 million.

Charlotte-based Crescent Resources said Monday that it has sold its Circle at South End apartment complex for $74 million.

The company did not disclose the name of the buyer.

Circle at South End has 360 apartments and 8,000 square feet of retail space. The development opened in May 2009 as the first 100 percent smoke-free apartment complex in Charlotte and had earned a silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The complex is close to the Bland Street Rail Station on the city’s light-rail line at the intersection of South Boulevard and Bland Street.

Ken Szymanski, executive director of the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, was impressed by the selling price.

“That is easily a record for properties that were designed and built as multifamily rentals,” Szymanski said. “For projects that were developed as apartments — not ones that were converted later — I haven’t heard anything that high. The sale has everything to do with the ability to command rent. If you can command rent, and rent is escalating, then that drives the value of the property.”